Delhi records highest spike in COVID-19 cases in 67 days; death count 4,500

File pic: Zee News

New Delhi: The national capital on Thursday (September 3) recorded the highest single-day spike in 67 days with 2,737 new COVID-19 cases, taking the infection tally to over 1.82 lakh, according to Delhi's health department bulletin. 

With 19 more fatalities in the city, the death toll mounted to 4,500, it said. This is the third successive day in September in which over 2,000 new cases have been reported. 

The number of active cases currently stands at 17,692, and the same on Wednesday was 16,502, the bulletin said. On June 28, Delhi had recorded 2,889 new cases of the infection, its highest single-day spike before September 3, while the fresh COVID-19 cases count stood at 2,312 on September 1.

On June 23, the national capital had reported its highest single-day spike so far of 3,947 new cases.

The positivity rate on Thursday stood at 8.3 per cent, while the recovery rate was over 87 per cent, said the bulletin. Also, the number of containment zones have jumped to 922 from 894 on Wednesday, according to the bulletin.

Delhi has witnessed an increase in the number of cases in the last several days. On August 1, the city recorded 1,118 fresh cases, while for the next three days, the number of new infections reported in a single day stayed below the 1,000-mark.

From August 5 to August 9, the number of fresh COVID-19 cases reported in a single day again stayed above the 1,000-mark, only to come down to 707 on August 10. Since August 18, the daily count of new cases has again started going up again.

According to the bulletin, out of the total number of beds in COVID hospitals in the city, 9,663 are vacant. Notably, 3,005 beds in COVID care centres are occupied by persons under quarantine, including travellers who have returned via the Vande Bharat Mission and the bubble flights, it said.

The bulletin also informed that 1,60,114 patients have recovered, been discharged, or migrated so far, while the number of people in home isolation stands at 9,135.

The number of Rapid Antigen Tests conducted today stands at 24,512, while that of RT-PCR, CBNAAT, and True NAAT combined at 8,322, adding up to 32,834 tests in total, according to the bulletin.

The total number of tests done to date in Delhi stands at 16,69,352, and the number of tests done per million, as on Thursday, was 87,861, it said. 

On the highest single-day spike in nearly two months, Delhi's Health Minister Satyendar Jain said that people "should not stress about numbers". The minister said the Delhi government is increasing the testing for COVID-19 and it wants that there should be no positive case in the city.

Speaking to reporters, Jain said, "You cannot say it is a second wave. We could have called it a second wave if there were no positive cases for one or two months and then cases would have started coming again. The virus is still there in Delhi. You should not stress about numbers."

Last week, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had announced that his government will double COVID-19 tests from 20,000 to 40,000. On Wednesday, a total of 28,835 tests were conducted, the maximum since March.

Notably, the Delhi Metro will resume services in three stages between September 7 and 12, according to the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation. Trains will be available from 7-11 AM and 4-8 PM, it said.

Meanwhile, Lt Governor Anil Baijal and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today held a meeting to discuss the pandemic situation in Delhi. Baijal approved the Aam Aadmi Party government's suggestion for reopening bars in the national capital from 9th September.

Delhi government sources, however, said that the owners of hotels, restaurants and clubs will have to ensure strict adherence to COVID-19 guidelines issued by the Central government.